The Walking Wounded
by raspberry salsa
Summary: Bella, Alice and Rosalie have found a new home far away from where they shattered. Will the arrival of Edward, Jasper and Emmett call for new scars or peace, at last? AH. Canon pairings.
1. Chapter 1

_**Trigger warning: Sexual assault.**_

_I just want to thank you for all the times you rode this dick._

The text illuminated my entire screen. I stared at it, in amused disbelief, before allowing myself to chuckle.

_You're welcome, Mike._ I tapped back, hitting send and sinking deeper into my seat.

I hated flying, especially at night. The flight attendant made her way through the aisles, helping people stow their carry-ons. My anxiety raged, and I forced myself to think of something other than the three hours it would take before I was home in Colombia.

My phone buzzed. _I'm in love with you._

I wanted to both roll my eyes and drop my jaw at the same time. I knew Mike Newton was in love with me—there was a part of me that loved him, too. Or maybe just loved the low maintenance—Mike was sweet, he never asked for anything and always took what I offered. But he'd never proclaimed it. I hated that it felt nice—knowing that he would always want me, even if the feelings could never be reciprocated. I felt shitty—almost as shitty as I always did before I sent him the texts, reminding him I was home in Seattle. Having him never felt quite as shitty as the loneliness I felt before—and that's what kept us in motion.

_Sorry, I'm drunk._I turned my phone off.

"Excuse me."

I wordlessly moved my knees, allowing the stranger to slide past me and into his seat. Finally, as he sat, I glanced over at him and my breath hitched. He was beautiful—green eyes and reddish hair. A thousand tiny freckles, all over his face and neck. I wondered where he was from—somewhere sunny. He would love Colombia, I thought to myself. I recognized something in him, that I knew from myself. He was stony—perhaps even brooding. I quickly looked away, not wanting to think of my own reasons or wonder why his could possibly be.

My body was hyper aware of him, and I didn't know why. It was like I could feel every molecule between us. I tried to relax, but then he would shift or sigh. He was intriguing—it was hard not to open my eyes. I wanted to engage him in conversation, but I didn't know how.

I closed my eyes during take off, gripping the seats and imaging how wonderful it would be once I was finally home.

The man beside me chatted with his friends—football or basketball, or something. I peeked, finding two other men, also handsome. One had curly hair—he was muscular and sort of jovial, I decided. I stifled a giggle imagining him in the gym every morning torturing himself. The other one was blond. He had kind eyes, and I smiled.

"Is she asleep?" Curly asked Red. I felt him shift beside me.

"No," The third one said. I couldn't pick a nickname for him. Blondie was too simple. Jesus, I considered, pronouncing it in Spanish, but it wasn't funny enough to stick. Ojos, I settled upon—and for some reason, it made me calmer and I drifted off.

_I licked my lips, looking directly into his green eyes. He stared back at me—smoldering. I felt like I was on fire beneath his glance. I liked it—I felt whole, like I hadn't in so long._

_I reached for him, but he dodged my hands, and began kissing my neck. I shivered, but I couldn't moan—not yet. He continued down, smiling somehow as he laid wet kisses on my chest and took each of my nipples into his mouth._

_He kept going down, down, down… "Yes!" I cheered, as he stroked my wetness, the first time with his fingers, then again, with his tongue._

_Suddenly everything changed. The green eyes turned black and his red hair was suddenly long and blondish—pulled into a ponytail._

"_James?" I whispered._

_He was pounding me and pounding me—no rhythm or care. There was blood everywhere—I could taste it and feel it on my hands. Hot and sticky. I wanted to sob and I wanted to vomit, but I did nothing at all._

_James disappeared. I was alone, my body aching, exactly how it did on that night._

I jolted awake.

Fuck, I thought to myself. I rubbed my nose and looked around me. Red was staring at me, curiously. I wanted to cry—I hadn't had any nightmares in months, maybe even a year now.

Hastily undoing my seat belt, I shot up and bolted toward the bathroom.

I spashed water on my face, and sat on the toilet. I stopped thinking about James long ago. I trained myself to avoid it—why rehash it, again and again? Why deal with it? I just lived, and my memories of him existed somewhere beneath the surface. I didn't know what it was then—if he was part of me or parasitical, taking from me with each breath. I didn't know if it was barriers or a platform that I stood on, separating me from everyone.

We had been happy once. We were both students at Whitman College, then moved to Seattle together so he could start his career. When we were in school, it was perfect. It was lazy, molasses loving. Never sweet but always slow and rich.

We got to Seattle and the pace quickened. I wasn't happy anymore, working in a quaint coffee shop and dreaming of what the fuck I was going to do with my Classics degree. It was like everything was passing by me and I couldn't keep up.

Finally, I broke up with him. I had just wanted to go home, to Forks, Washington and start over. When I met him, James' temper didn't show. He started working and drinking whiskey and it was like automatic agression, all the time.

There was a knock on the door, and I realized I had tears in my eyes.

"Sorry! Sorry…" I called, standing up and peering into the mirror. So conspicuous, I noted, sighing.

I opened the door and the flight attedant was smiling at me. She looked me over, and her smile fell. "Are you okay ma'am?"

I nodded, "Mhm, yeah," I said, pushing past her and returning to my seat.

"We're going to start the desecent soon," Red said to me, as I sat. We looked into each other's eyes—but there was no sympathy in his. I appreciated it. I didn't need pity—I never did.

I never replied, but fastened my seat buckled and leaned back.

**This is my new venture. It surely has been awhile. I'm looking forward to it—hopefully I'll be able to keep up with it even with classes. Next chapters coming soon!**

**If anything is unclear—I think that might be how I want it! It's been so long since I wrote anything though. It's hard! Lemme know watcha think, por favor!**

**I do thank you for reading **


	2. Chapter 2

I watched as Casa Agapé drew nearer, I watched familiar faces brighten through the distance. My family waited for me. It was so strange—to be leaving my parents, the house that I grew up in to arrive home in a foreign country with people I'd known a fraction of my life.

I jumped out of the truck and bolted towards Rosalie and Alice.

"I missed you so much!" Alice squealed, prying her way into my arms and pulling Rose along with her. Even Rosalie—stony, protective Rosalie—was oozing with her affection. To be together again was a gift, the biggest blessing we had. It was the first love that we felt to our cores, we agreed.

Alice thought we were soul mates, and while I didn't know if I believed in any of that, I couldn't disagreed that we belonged together—and we needed to be doing exactly what we did.

Our reunions were always like this—so much girlier than anything I'd ever remembered feeling towards my friends before. Jacob rolled his eyes and started carrying my two bags towards the dorms.

"How was everything?" I inquired of them, starting after Jake.

Quil and Embry started over, offering me one-arm hugs and smiles. I'd missed them—the casual sense of safety that came along with their presence that I had always longed for.

Rosalie shrugged, "Everything went off without a hitch—you knew they would. The girls missed you, but that's it."

My heart soared. Rosalie and I hadn't started the orphanage because we loved kids—but now, I couldn't image my life without the twenty-five girls who lived with us.

"Be honest," I said, stopping short. "How are Ben and Angela holding up?"

For a long time, it had been just Rose and I and the guys. We had all met in Seattle, raised the money together and started the orphanage. In the last year, however, we began to expand and welcomed nine more girls to Agapé.

Rosalie managed finances. Alice was a teacher. The guys took care of maintenance. I did everything in-between, helping wherever I could and trying to keep everything running smoothly.

We couldn't do it all ourselves anymore.

But finding people willing to work with us was difficult—Sam and Emily, the cooks, were retired chefs who wanted to give back. Ben and Angela were teachers from Seattle, who found themselves disenchanted by the bureaucratic nonsense that went along with the American education system. They were great at their jobs—more so than we ever could have hoped for. But living in Colombia was an adjustment for them, as it had been for all of us.

"Excellent," Alice said, almost incredulously. "So much respect for them."

Rosalie nodded, but said nothing. Her praise was harder to earn—she had high expectations and a critical eye. But she was kind, and I knew she would be looking out for them as best she could.

We stepped into the mess hall and Jacob returned to my side. "It's beautiful, isn't it?" He said softly.

And it was. The girls so full of life—chattering and eating—teasing one another. Ben and Ang were mixed in with them, babbling away in a mix of Spanish and English.

"Hola!" I called, taking a few more steps into the room.

Suddenly, a stampede. I could hear Alice and Rosalie laughing behind me. Twenty-five girls hovered around me, asking questions, wondering what Seattle was life.

I said nothing, but doled out forehead kisses to each and every one of them.

"Coma, coma, coma," I repeated, nudging them back to the table. "Go eat! All of you!"

"Te extrañé," One of the youngest, Luz, said, as she hugged my knees.

"I missed you too," I whisper, and she runs back to her seat.

I notice vaguely Rosalie and Alice returning to my sides. "I want to talk to you about something business related," Rosalie said, shattering my reverie. "Jake, Alice—come on. This concerns you too."

We step into the office, and I plunk down in a chair. The back of my legs ache to be walking around, after a day of travel, so I stand back up lean against a filing cabinet.

"While you were gone, I was approached by a women in the city looking for a place to send a couple girls with disabilities," Jacob explained, looking sheepish.

I nod and look to Rosalie. It was something that had crossed our mind before.

Jake looked relieved that my reaction wasn't negative, and he continued. "I told her I would talk to you all about it—no promises, but we'd see."

"In the midst of all this, I did something a little bad," Rosalie said, looking at her feet. I knew I wouldn't be angry, but my heart started racing—Rosalie sometimes went directly to the extreme. "A doctor, Carlisle Cullen, in LA donated a rather substantial amount of money to us. We had a lot of conversations and he said that if we wanted to expand and open a second wing as a sort of… maternity clinic… he would donate again."

"Bells, I think it's a fucking awesome idea," Jacob said, finally unable to contain himself.

"Me too!" Alice said, stepping behind my desk. "That's why… we told him yes."

My heart stopped beating. "What?" I deadpanned.

"We didn't want to tell you over the phone," Alice defended, "But we couldn't wait. We started renovations already."

Jacob interjected, "Quil, Embry and I did most of it. Saved a lot and got it done pretty quickly."

"You guys started and finished renovations already?" I asked, looking around at the three of them.

"Yes," Rosalie said, firmly. "We did some hiring too."

I put my head in my hands—everything was spinning. I wasn't mad—it was something we'd talked about doing. I wasn't shocked either—it was like, the three of them looking down at me acting like it was the most normal thing in the world prevented me from reacting.

"Okay," I said, picking my head up.

Alice froze and Rosalie took a seat. "That's it?" Jake asked tentatively.

I wasn't a confrontational person-at least not really. I usually kept my mouth shut and rarely got worked up over things. I was a little annoyed that they expected me to freak out-because I never freaked out. It suggested to me that they absolutely knew they should have waited for me, and didn't anyway. But I wasn't going to react; I would let them be nervous a little longer.

Alice didn't give me a chance to respond, "Jake's girlfriend Leah put out some feelers and we hired some Colombian nurses, Carmen, Irina, Tanya and Kate. They're really so lovely Bell," she said excitedly.

I just nodded.

"And we haven't met the doctors yet, but Carlisle made them seem very official. They all worked with him in Los Angeles but they're looking to do something more. Two OB/GYNs and a pediatrician. Rose and I phone interviewed them…" She was babbling, but cut herself off abruptly.

I stared at the three of them—completely at a loss for words.

"Actually," Jacob said, "Dr. Cullen said they would be arriving around the same time as Bella's flight got in. He was going to show them to a hotel for the night then they would stop by. We could go meet them if you wanted, Bella."

Finally, my fury hit. I wasn't pissed at the prospects—I liked the idea of having doctors around. I loved that we would be expanding our scope.

"Fuck you three," I said. Calmly.

At the same time all three of their eyes boggled.

**Aww thit. :)**


End file.
